Businesses Need Blogs!

As a content writer, I regularly hear small business owners claiming they don't need a blog on their website. This is so not true! Any company that's marketing online would benefit from a blog - and if you have a website than a blog is essential!

If there is an industry, there will be people who want to read about that industry. Businesses, whether they work in the accountancy sector, insurance, health and safety, fashion, horticulture, leisure, etc., can find interesting topics that are relevant to their industry and will engage people. On the other hand, many businesses also benefit from posting blogs on subjects that are irrelevant to their industry but still appeal to their target consumers. Blogs benefit companies in so many ways that it's sooo frustrating for us marketers to see them so often dismissed. For this reason, I have decided it is absolutely critical to discuss, in detail, some of the main benefits of having a business blog.

Blogs Boost Your SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) describes the process marketers use to help you rank higher on search engines like Google, for relevant search queries. A big part of SEO involves the placement of selected keywords throughout your website, both in the visible text and behind-the-scenes of your site.

Once you know this basic piece of info, it's easy to see how blogs can contribute to SEO; blogs are articles that you write and upload online, i.e. to your website, that usually focus on a particular topic within your industry or a question your customers need answered. This very blog you're reading contains a varied abundance of keywords that are relevant to the marketing sector and to our customers.

Blogs build up your website, keep its SEO up to date and provide your business with further opportunity for exposure. Consider this: ‘Every time you write a blog post, it's one more indexed page on your website, which means it's one more opportunity for you to show up in search engines and drive traffic to your website in organic search’ - Hubspot. So, if you are an accountancy agency and you upload the blog post: ‘What small business owners need to know about tax law’, which contains lots of relevant information and effective keywords, then your website – specifically this indexed page on your website – will be more likely to come up nearer to the top of the list on Google when a potential client types in ‘tax law’. This won't happen instantly, but will push your site in the right direction - which is why it's so important to regularly post to your blog and keep your SEO fresh!

If you would like to find out more about SEO, see our recent post 'SEO For Newbies: A Beginners guide'.

Blogs Make Your Website More Dynamic

As blogs posts are a great way to flesh out your website with varied information, your site will have a more dynamic appearance than if you just have the basic ‘Home', 'About Us’, ‘Services’ and ‘Contact Us’ pages. Blogs attribute authority to your website (and therefore your business) by showing that you've got something to say. They also provide a lot of opportunity for internal link building and the placement of CTAs. A more dynamic site with a little attitude and a lot of links encourages customers to have a look around, which increases the likelihood of them making purchase with your business.

Blogs Provide Content for You to Share Across Social Media

Blogs and social media are digital marketing must-haves - if you're using one, you NEED to be using the other. Blogs contribute and add variety to the content that you share on your social media platforms. Equally, social media is a highly effective way of directing people towards your website through content distribution, i.e. the sharing of self-serving content, such as blog posts.

If your business is a tree, your services are the roots and your website is the trunk, then your social media accounts are the various branches that grow out from your site, helping it reach higher and further.

Social media allows your business to engage in conversation with your target audience. You're now able to interact with potential consumers before actually meeting them - what is there to lose?! You can now keep them up to date with your company, its projects and its services without even leaving your office. Sharing your blogs on social media is a great way to feed your followers and keep them interested in your brand. For example, as a marketing agency, our followers tend to be people who want to learn about marketing. Sure, we can share blogs on marketing from other sources – and we do because curated content is important – but what better way is there to showcase our abilities to potential customers, than to provide them with useful marketing material that you have written? They need to invest in what you say before they invest in you!

Blogs Provide Your Audience with Valuable Insight into Your Business

Exposing your target audience to your blog content is one of the most effective ways for you to build your relationship with them. Blogs act as part of the ongoing conversation between your business and your consumers, particularly if they are used to keep your audience up to date on happenings within your company.

Writing about your employees, recent events you have attended, current affairs or industry topics quite literally gives your company a voice and a personable identity. Writing creates the presence of a voice, whether this voice be the narrator, the author, or the speaker. Business blog posts can take the perspective of your company as whole, the royal we; an individual employee, or a guest you associate with etc. Or perhaps, if you really wanted you could write from the perspective of your business mascot! As you can see, the topic and style of your blogs is up to yo.! Embrace your creative writes and think about what company values you want to express to your audience.

STOP! I can practically hear the B2B business owners now: "What good is a personable voice in the B2B sector? I am appealing to other businesses on a professional level, surely this is more useful for B2C companies". Firstly, business decision makers are people, even in the B2B sector. Your clients may be businesses, but you still need to engage with individual people - and people do not enjoy feeling alienated by formidable, voiceless companies. Secondly, blogs do not need to be ‘fluff’ pieces. Writing about a recent exhibition you attended, or a company event, or your view on an important industry topic keeps your audience informed and shows you are an active, thoughtful business.

These hesitations are not limited to the B2B sector, but sometimes mirrored by B2C companies: "What good is a blog on our industry to members of the public?" Industry blogs do not need to be boring, in fact, there is often a greater diversity of topics in your industry than you may think. There are ways you can link your company to current news that is interesting and insightful; it's important that you don't approach this feeling limited. Instead, remember that blogs only need to be relevant to your audience. Write content they will want to see or that is actually useful to them - even if it is not always 100% relevant to your company. This is how blogs build relationships and trust; they traverse the gulf between your company and consumers by starting a conversation.

Blogs Establish Your Business as an Industry Authority 

Potential consumers will be more likely to make a purchase with you if they trust your company. Writing interesting and insightful blogs on topics relevant to your business enables you to share your industry know-how with your audience and encourages them to see you as a source of information, which in turn develops the trust they have for your company.

On a more technical level, blogs open up opportunities to improve your SEO further as you evolve into an industry authority. If you have blog posts that have received lots of good engagement, then other businesses and blogs will see the value in your company’s posts. This can lead to guest blogging or being cited for quotes on other, popular websites. Not only does this increase your brand exposure, but it actually creates links to pages on your website, which in turn improves your domain authority (which is very good for your SEO).

Blogs feed into your social and digital marketing by contributing to a self-serving cycle: they act as content that you can share on social media to direct people to your website, then as more people engage with your blogs and visit your page, the more your authorial image develops, which encourages more relevant sites to reference you or your content. Eventually, this snowballs into a self-serving content marketing machine.

Blogs Are More Than Content

Blogs are a fundamental part of content marketing, but they also benefit businesses on both social and technical levels, which is why marketers are so obsessed with them. If you're unsure about the blogging process, read our Blogging Blog for some direction and creative guidance. Finally, we implore you: do not be afraid of the blog. See it as an opportunity to develop your company’s relationship with your consumers, build your digital presence and grow your business.

Find more at: creativetank.co.uk